Last year, Elsner was paid $219,670, up from his 2011 income of $211,480. Meanwhile, CAO Doug Nadarozny was paid $218,178 last year, up from his 2011 income of $213,196.

Community Development General Manager Catherine Matheson was paid $191,486 last year, rounding out the top three wages paid at the City of Greater Sudbury.

A total of 196 city employees made more than $100,000 last year. In 2011, there were more than 200 employees listed.

Their salaries were released today under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, also referred to as the sunshine list. The Act requires organizations that receive public funding from the province to disclose annually the names, positions, salaries and total taxable benefits of employees paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year.

It applies to the provincial government, Crown agencies and corporations; Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One and their subsidiaries; publicly funded organizations such as hospitals, boards of public health, municipalities, school boards, universities and colleges; and organizations that receive transfer payments from the province of at least $1 million or 10 per cent of their gross revenues, provided the transfer amount was $120,000 or more.

Topping the sunshine list in Sudbury was Health Science North's vice-president or research, Dr. Francicso Diaz-Mitoma, who was paid $415,000 last year, up significantly from his 2011 earnings of $392,259.

Diaz-Mitoma was one of 138 employees at HSN who was paid more than $100,000 last year.

HSN vice-president and chief of staff Dr. Chris Bourdon was paid $375,000 last year, up from $372,259 in 2011, while HSN president and CEO Dr. Denis Roy was paid $350,000, up from $337,144 in 2011.

Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, medical officer of health and CEO of Sudbury and District Health Unit, was paid $306,440 in 2012, while Dr. Na-Koshie Lamptey, assistant medical officer of health, was paid $239,033.

A total of 96 Cambrian College staff were on the list. The top earner at Cambrian last year was President Sylvia Barnard, who was paid $257,030.92, followed by Vice-President, Finance and Administration James Hutton, who was paid $220,065, and Vice-President, Academic Sonia Del Missier, who was paid $174,818.

Collège Boréal has 56 employees on sunshine list. The top earner was Denis Hubert-Dutrisac, president, who was paid $242,925, followed by Danielle Talbot-Lariviere, vice-president, Les Entreprises Boréal, who earned $195,673, and Daniel Giroux, vice-president, Enseignement, who was paid $194,297.

Laurentian University president and vice-chancellor Dominic Giroux was paid $310,155 in 2012, and was one of 319 employees paid more than $100,000.

Douglas Morrison, president and Chief Executive Office, Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation, was paid $231,473, while Peter Kaiser, vice-president, Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation, was paid $226,886.

For a full list of Sudburians included on the sunshine list, visit http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/publications/salarydisclosure/pssd/

The average salary paid out to public sector employees in 2012 went down by about $40, according to a provincial news release.

Overall, the total number of employees disclosed under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act increased by 11 per cent — or 8,823 employees from 79,589 in 2011 to 88,412 in 2012.

The Municipalities and Services sector accounted for 38 per cent of the increase or about 3,300 employees.

Following the release of the sunshine list, New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath renewed her call for a hard cap on public sector CEO salaries.

“When public sector CEOs are getting pay hikes that are bigger than most people’s paycheques something’s not working,” Horwath said in a news release. “We need a hard cap on CEO pay in the public sector. Money that should be going to front-line health care or lowering tuition fees, is being spent on CEO salaries, and that’s not fair for families who are struggling.”

Horwath has reiterated her call to cap publicly paid executive salaries at double the salary of Ontario’s Premier. The premier’s current salary is $209,000.

According to the provincial sunshine list, there are more than 25 public sector energy executives making more than twice the premier’s salary, and while everyday Ontarians are told to tighten their belts, public sector executives continue to receive generous raises on top of six-figure salaries.

For example, Tom Mitchell, the CEO of Ontario Power Generation, was paid $1.7 million. Laura Formusa, the CEO of Hydro One, was paid $1.036 million, with a raise of more than $70,000 (almost twice the pay of the average Ontarian). The CEO of London Health Sciences Centre made more than $600,900, including a raise of more than $45,000.

The CEO of Sunnybrook in Toronto made more than $760,000, including a raise of more than $50,000, and the CEO of St. Joseph’s Health Centre in London made $470,000, including a raise of $20,000.

CEOs at all five major downtown Toronto hospitals made well above a proposed cap of $418,000, she said.

“Until we have a hard cap on public salaries, Ontarians can expect to see the pay packets of public executives continue to grow at the expense of public services,” said Horwath.

“A single million-dollar salary is enough to keep over a dozen nurses on the job. Ontarians want their government to know where its priorities should be.”

Dialogue and debate are integral to a free society and we welcome and encourage you to share your views on the issues of the day. We ask that you be respectful of others and their points of view, refrain from personal attacks and stay on topic. To learn about our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines.